Nuclear reaction product pumping as a means to excite a population inversion in a lasing medium is a known technique. Lasers using such technique are commonly referred to as direct nuclear pumped (DNP) lasers, and they use the products of nuclear reactions to directly ionize and excite the laser medium. These are very promising for high-power applications, since neutrons can penetrate a high-pressure gas and still excite nuclear reactions (i.e. pump) quite uniformly throughout the gas volume. Due to the large neutron flux from a nuclear reactor, potentially compact high-power DNP lasers may be constructed. This would be important for space applications where systems with high energy density and low weight are essential. Potential ground applications for such a high-powered laser include laser pellet fusion and isotope separation. Examples of DNP lasers are the CO laser developed at Sandia National Laboratory and the He-Xe laser developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. This disclosure relates to the discovery of a third DNP laser, the Ne-N.sub.2 laser. The Ne-N.sub.2 laser herein described is the first DNP laser to exhibit collision radiated recombination of ions. Such a lasing mechanism allows the laser to operate with a lower threshold and lower wavelength than other DNP lasers and with higher efficiency than the same electrical laser.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a direct nuclear pumped laser.
Another object of this invention is to provide a DNP laser wherein the laser active medium is a mixture of neon-nitrogen gases.